Airport '77

Airport '77 is a 1977 American air disaster film, and the third installment of the Airport film series. The film stars a number of veteran actors including Jack Lemmon, James Stewart, Joseph Cotten, Olivia de Havilland, and Brenda Vaccaro as well as the return of George Kennedy from the two previous Airport films. It is directed by Jerry Jameson, produced by Jennings Lang and William Frye, with a screenplay by Michael Scheff and David Spector.[2]

Airport '77
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJerry Jameson
Produced by
Screenplay by
  • Michael Scheff
  • David Spector
Story by
Based onAirport, based on the novel by Arthur Hailey
Starring
Music byJohn Cacavas
Cinematography
Edited by
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Universal Pictures
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • March 11, 1977 (1977-03-11)
Running time
113 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$6 million
Box office$30 million[1]

The plot concerns a private Boeing 747 packed with VIPs and priceless art that is hijacked before crashing into the ocean in the Bermuda Triangle, prompting the survivors to undertake a desperate struggle for survival.[3][4]

Despite mixed critical reviews, Airport '77 was a box-office hit with earnings of $30 million,[5] making the film the 19th-highest-grossing picture of 1977. It was nominated for two Academy Awards.

Plot

Wealthy philanthropist Philip Stevens is having invited guests flown in his luxurious privately-owned Boeing 747-100, Stevens's Flight 23, to his Palm Beach, Florida estate. Aboard are his estranged adult daughter and her young son. Priceless artwork from Stevens's private collection destined for his new museum is also on the jetliner. The collection has motivated a group of thieves led by co-pilot Bob Chambers to hijack the aircraft.

Mid-flight, Captain Don Gallagher is lured from the cockpit and rendered unconscious. A sleeping gas secretly installed pre-flight is released into the cabin, knocking out unprotected crew and passengers. Chambers, flying to a small deserted island to offload the art treasures, drops the plane below radar range causing Stevens' Flight 23 to "disappear" in the Bermuda Triangle. Descending to virtual wave-top altitude, Flight 23 heads into a fog bank, reducing visibility. Minutes later, a large offshore drilling platform emerges from the haze, and Flight 23 is headed straight for it.

Chambers attempts to avert a collision, but the wing clips the structure's tower, igniting an engine. Chambers extinguishes the fire but a sudden loss of airspeed threatens to stall the airplane. As he struggles to maintain control, the passengers begin waking up to the unfolding disaster. Chambers is unable to maintain his airspeed; the plane stalls and crashes into the water, floating momentarily before quietly slipping below the surface.

The plane settles in relatively shallow water that is above the plane's crush depth, though water pressure gradually compromises the fuselage. Many passengers are injured, some seriously. Chambers, the only surviving hijacker, reveals the plane is two hundred miles off course, meaning search and rescue efforts will be focused in the wrong area. As a search for the missing plane is launched, veteran aeronautics expert Joe Patroni joins the rescue operation as a technical adviser, joined by the jet's owner, Philip Stevens. Meanwhile, the trapped crew can only contact rescuers by getting a signal buoy to the surface. Captain Gallagher and a professional diver and passenger, Martin Wallace, enter the main cargo preparing to swim to the surface using air masks. The hatch suddenly blows open, killing Wallace. Gallagher barely makes it to the surface and activates the emergency beacon. The signal is detected and a rescue operation is launched. Meanwhile, the plane's fuselage is steadily leaking.

The Navy dispatches a sub-recovery ship, the USS Cayuga, the destroyer USS Agerholm, and a flotilla of other vessels to the crash site, rescuing Gallagher. Guided by Gallagher, Navy divers rig the plane with balloons and inflate them, slowly raising the aircraft, which could split apart. Just before the plane reaches the surface, a balloon breaks loose and pressure is reduced to stabilize the aircraft. A cargo hold door inside the plane bursts open and seawater swamps the cabin; Chambers, pinned under a sofa, drowns. Emily’s injured friend Dorothy dies from her injuries, Wallace's widow, Karen and a stewardess drown. With time running out, air pressure is increased, raising the plane to the surface. All survivors are quickly evacuated. Captain Gallagher and Stevens's assistant, Eve, get trapped inside and escape through the upper deck. All buoyancy is lost and the 747 slips under the waves.

Cast

Awards nominations
Award Category Recipient Result
Academy Awards[6] Best Costume Design Edith Head, Burton Miller Nominated
Best Art Direction George C. Webb, Mickey S. Michaels Nominated

Production note

Although the disaster portrayed in the film is fictional, rescue operations depicted in the movie are actual rescue operations utilized by the Navy in the event of similar emergencies or disasters, as indicated at the end of the film prior to the closing credits.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 38% of eight surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 5.1/10.[7] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 36 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[8] Variety wrote, "The story's formula banality is credible most of the time and there's some good actual US Navy search and rescue procedure interjected in the plot."[9] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times rated it 2/4 stars and wrote, "The movie's a big, slick entertainment, relentlessly ridiculous and therefore never boring for long."[10] The New York Times wrote, "Airport '77 looks less like the work of a director and writers than like a corporate decision."[11]

Theme Park attraction

From late 1977 until the early 1980s, the Universal Studios Tour in California featured the "Airport '77" Screen Test Theater as part of the tour.[12] Several sets were recreated, and members of the audience were chosen to play various parts. The audience would watch as these scenes were filmed. Key scenes such as the hijacking, crash and rescue were recreated, and the footage was then incorporated into a brief digest version of the film and screened for the audience on monitors. Each show's mini-film was made available to audience members to purchase on 8mm and videotape.

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References
  1. "Airport '77, Box Office Information". The Numbers. Retrieved January 29, 2012.
  2. "Airport '77". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  3. Airport '77 on IMDb
  4. Leonard Maltin's 2015 Movie Guide ISBN 9780451468499
  5. "Airport - Box Office History". The Numbers.
  6. "Airport '77 Awards". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
  7. "Airport '77 (1977)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2015-06-07.
  8. "Airport '77 (1977) reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
  9. "Review: 'Airport '77'". Variety. 1977. Retrieved 2015-06-07.
  10. Ebert, Roger (1977-03-31). "Airport '77". Chicago Sun-Times. RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 2015-06-07.
  11. "'Airport '77,' Starring a Jet, Fails to Maintain High Level". The New York Times. 1977-03-26. Retrieved 2015-06-07.
  12. "the studiotour.com - Universal Studios Hollywood - Airport 77". www.thestudiotour.com. Retrieved 2019-11-03.
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